Mar. 18, 2014

Stephen Drew / Associated Press

Written by

Jamie Samuelsen

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the “Jamie and Wojo” show at 6 p.m. weekdays on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen and read more of his opinions at freep.com/jamie.

So it appears the Tigers’ first major injury of the season has already happened in the form of Jose Iglesias’ shins. What should the Tigers do to fill the hole at shortstop?

If Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski decides to address the shortstop position using someone outside the organization, we’ll be the last to know.

Dombrowski isn’t one to float trial balloons. And I think it was an amazing moment of openness for him when he said on Sunday that a couple of teams have called him to see if he’s interested in acquiring one of their players to replace Jose Iglesias. We can assume Dombrowski politely declined. But we can also assume that he has those phone numbers if he needs to call back.

Dombrowski doesn’t need to panic. Iglesias is a fantastic fielder and a lightweight hitter. The Tigers were counting on him to play Gold Glove-caliber defense, but not provide Silver Slugger-caliber offense. So if Dombrowski and Brad Ausmus decide that Danny Worth or Hernan Perez can handle the duties at short, the Tigers would suffer a drop-off in terms of defense, but not a huge one in terms of offense. My guess is that Dombrowski will look to start the season that way. And he’d do so hoping that Iglesias can return sooner than expected and that either Worth or Perez can at least handle the position and perhaps give the Tigers a little bit more. The news that Iglesias has stress fractures in both shins makes things a tad direr.

The other option, of course, is Stephen Drew. The free agent shortstop is still out there largely because no team wants to part with a first round pick that it would owe the Red Sox in exchange for signing Drew, who made Iglesias expendable last season for Boston allowing them to pick up Jake Peavy in the three-team deal along with the Tigers and the White Sox. Drew is also a Scott Boras client and we all know the track record that Boras has had with Mike Ilitch and the Tigers over the years. It is fair to wonder if Boras enjoys the same benefits in dealing with Dombrowski seeing as Ilitch has taken a less active role with the club. I tend to doubt it.

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Drew is an upgrade. There’s no debate there. His career OPS is .764. Although most of his offensive numbers were on the decline until he spent last season in cozy Fenway Park. It’s hard to give up first round picks, which is why Drew and Kendrys Morales are still on the market. But the Tigers are still in that “desperate to win a World Series now” mode and a first round pick who may or may not turn into a major league player five years down the road is not a huge price to pay. Plus, the pick is late in the first round of this June’s draft, so it’s not as if they’re parting with one of the very best prospects available.

The question becomes: Is Drew a significant enough upgrade over what the Tigers have in their system now to justify not only the draft pick, but the two-or three-year contract that he’d assuredly want as well? The Tigers would love to ink Drew for a year in the hopes that Iglesias’ shin issues will be long gone by 2015. But there’s a reason that Drew is still available and it’s not simply the fact that he’d cost a draft pick. Drew is 31 years old and has played for three different teams in the past two seasons alone. He’s looking for a certain amount of security at this point of his career.

Drew was the A’s shortstop when the Tigers played Oakland in the 2012 ALDS. I vividly remember him making every play at short and even ranging past second to get some balls. There’s no doubt that he’d help the Tigers bridge the gap if Iglesias can’t return.

But as long as he’s still out there, I’m waiting. The Tigers have their shortstop for the future. They can still win plenty of games this season with adequate to good shortstop defense, even if they don’t get the elite stuff that Iglesias brings. If the situation doesn’t improve, then they can deal at the deadline. And if Drew has stayed on the market this long, there’s every chance that he’ll still be on the market a month from. Boras said on Sunday that Drew might wait until June to sign so that his new team could avoid giving up the draft pick. That would be a roll of the dice for Dombrowski, but it might be worth it.

The Tigers have had a rough spring with injuries to Iglesias and Andy Dirks. But just remind yourself that the two biggest injuries were those suffered by Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander. Both of those guys seem to be operating at maximum efficiency in Lakeland. The other parts are important and certainly a cause for concern. But I don’t see Iglesias’ shins sinking this season. So I’m not into panic mode. Not yet.